he campus heard. And the campus came. TheUniversitycommunity—students,faculty,staff,administrators,townresidents,thosewhoknew her best,thosewhonever mether — turnedout bythethousandstorememberStudentBodyPresidentEveCarson.Thosesamepeoplearestill reeling,tryingtomakesenseof thesenselessviolencethattookoneof their ownevenaspolice try to uncover the details of what exactly happenedsince Eve’s roommates left her studying at home Tuesday night. Whatever thoseanswersultimatelyare,onethingiscer-tain:EveCarsonlovedthisUniversityanditsstudents. Andtheylovedher.

RALEIGH—“WelikeMike,welikeMike” were the words that greetedGovernor-elect Mike Easley when hepressed hiswaythrougharowdycrowdof about 250 supporters to give his vic-tory speech attheNorthRaleigh Hiltonon Tuesday night.With 93 percent of precincts report-ing, Easley snagged 52 percent of thevote, Republican candidate RichardVinroot received 46 percent andLibertarian candidate Barbara Howehad 2percent.When thecheersdied down,Easley,standing next to his wife and son,announced his victory in the 2000gubernatorial election, making EasleyNorth Carolina’s first elected governorof the 21st century. “I have so manypeopletothank,butIwanttostartwithmy wife,” hesaid.“Westarted thisthing togethersoworkingfamilieswouldhaveavoice—tonightthey will.”He assured his supporters that hewouldfulfillhisplatformpromises,suchasimprovingpublic education and pro-

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RALEIGH —IncumbentRep.DavidPrice,D-N.C.,defeatedblackRepublicancandidateJessWard and Libertarian C.BrianToweyonTuesdaytokeephisseat representing the 4th CongressionalDistrict in the U.S. House of Representatives.With 94 percent of the precinctsreporting,Pricewasleadingwith61per-centofthevote,comparedto37percent forWard and 2 percentforTowey.Celebrating at the North RaleighHilton with other Democratic candi-dates,includingnewlyelectedgovernorMikeEasley,Pricespoketoanexuberant crowd of supporters. “We want to say a partythank-youtoallofyou,”Pricesaidafter winning his eighth congressionalterm, his third in a row. “We’ve got a positivemessagerightnow.”Pricesaidhewillcontinuefightingforeducation and a balanced budget inWashington.“I hope to go to Washington andmake progress on the concerns of ournation: strengthen public schools, pro-motehomeownership,balancethebud-get and bring down the national debt,”hesaid.“It’savery powerful agenda.”Price’s primary opponent, Ward, a one-term Cary councilman, spoke to a much smaller and less excited group at the Sheraton Capital Center Hotel inRaleigh, thanking those who supportedhiscampaign.“It’sanhonortoservetheRepublicanparty,” hesaid.“Ithankthepeoplewhohavebeenwithmethrough-out. It’s been a tremendous joy. I won’t

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DwightEisenhower

CMYK

Easley Eliminates Vinroot

VotersPass$3.1Billion CapitalImprovementsBond

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RALEIGH—They said “yes.”Unofficial results indicate that N.C.voters overwhelmingly passed the $3.1billion higher education bond referen-dum Tuesday — news that was greetedwiththunderousapplausefromagather-ing of more than 100 higher educationadvocates at The Brownstone Hotel inRaleigh on Tuesday night.With 53 percent of the precinctsreporting,74percentofvotersapprovedthebondproposal,and26percentvotedagainstit.Thebond—thelargestinstatehistory—willfundcapitalimprovementsonthestate’suniversityandcommunitycollegecampuses.Those whoworkedon thebondcampaign, whichbegan this summershortly after theN.C. GeneralAssembly votedunanimouslytosendthe proposal to thepeople, were allsmiles Tuesday night as election resultsbegantoflashacrosstwobig-screentele-vision sets in the Brownstone’s grandballroom.“Sometimes goals that are really big andreallyimportanttakealotoftime,a lot of persistence and a deep commit-ment,” said UNC-system President MollyBroad,shortlyafter10p.m.whencampaigners deemed the referendum a success.“AndIthinkwhatwehaveseenin thisvoteisthatNorth Caroliniansarewilling to take on those complex deci-sionswhen theythink itisimportantforthestate.”Broad,BoardofGovernorsChairmanBen Ruffin, N.C. Community CollegeSystem President Martin Lancaster,Community Colleges School BoardChairmanHermanPorterandCampaignCoordinator Leslie Bavacqua all gavebrief speeches thanking each other andcampaign volunteers for their efforts togetthebond passed.Lancaster said the campaign alsoforged a new relationship between theuniversity and community college sys-tems—arelationshiphesaidwouldcon-tinuein thefuture.“We have found so many ways tocooperate,”hesaid.“Andthesearewayswearegoingtobuild upon.”The 16-campus UNC system willreceive$2.5 billion ofthebond money.Therestwillfundcapitalimprovementsatthestate’scommunity colleges.Gov. Jim Hunt made an appearanceat the gathering early in the evening before moving on to DemocraticHeadquarters at the North RaleighHilton. But even before a substantialportion of the votes had been counted,Hunt was confident that voters wouldendorsethebond proposal.Shortly afterthefirstreturnssuggest-ed that69 percentofvotersin1 percent of the state’s precincts voted for thebond, Hunt said, “This shows that the

Democrats Keep Governor’s Seat

ElectionTooCloseToCall:Gore PullsConcessiontoBush

TheAssociatedPress

WASHINGTON — Vice President Al Goreconcededthepresidentialraceinatelephonecallto George W. Bush on Wednesday morning —then took itback.“He called an hour ago to concede. He just called us back to retract that concession,'' saidKaren Hughes, communications director forBush.“It'sunbelievable.”That was an apt description of the seesawing election night. At one point, the key state of Florida was teetering toward Bush and the TVnetworks called the race in Bush's favor. Gorepicked up thetelephoneand called Bush.Asof4:40 a.m.,Goreled Bush in thegeneralelection by about 60,000 votes with 96 percent of the precincts reporting. Gore has 249 elec-toral votes and Bush has 246, with Florida,WisconsinandOregonstilllistedastoss-ups,put-ting both candidates just shy of the 270 neededto claim victory. A Florida win for either candi-date would allow him to ascend to the WhiteHouse.But the extremely tight race in Florida, nowshowingaBushleadofonlyabout200voteswithall precincts reporting, requires state officialstheretorecount.Severalcounties’voteshavenotbeencounted,meaning that the next president literally couldbedecided by ahandful ofvotes.Astheelection stretchedintotheearly morn-ing hours, old-pro commentators repeatedlycommented that this election is unlike anything anyonehaseverseen.“We gave them a cliffhanger,’’the vice presi-denttold Bush,accordingtoHughes.Bush replied to Gore during his first call,“You’reaformidableopponentandagoodman.Iknowit’shard.Iknowit’shardforyourfamily.Givemy besttoTipperand yourchildren.’’AsenioradviserwiththeGorecampaigncon-firmedthatthevicepresidentmadethetwocalls,onetoconcedeand theothertoretract.Thousands of supporters stood in the streetsof Nashville, Tenn., where Gore was headquar-tered,andAustin,Texas,Bush’shome—awaiting word from their favorite sons.Bush, however,wasn’tsurewhattosay justbefore4 a.m.EST.“We’re trying to decide,’’ Hughes sighed.“We’re going to watch what the vice president says.We’regoingtowaitand seewhathesays,Iguess.’’Bush’swins,estimated by CNN,included hishome state of Texas, Gore's home state of Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada,Colorado,WestVirginia,Missouri,Utah,Idaho,Montana and New Hampshire. CNN also esti-mated that he took Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia,Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina,Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, NorthDakota,SouthDakotaandWyoming--thehomestate of his vice presidential running mate, for-merDefenseSecretary Dick Cheney.AlongwithCalifornia,Gorewonthecovetedswing states of Pennsylvania, Minnesota andMichigan, as well as Washington, Hawaii, NewMexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont,Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland,

NEWYORK—Inthemostdevastatingterroristonslaughteverwagedagainst theUnited States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed twoairplanes intotheWorldTradeCenter on Tuesday, toppling its twin 110-story towers.Thedeadly calam-ity was witnessed on televisions across theworld as another planeslammed intothePentagon in Washington, D.C., and afourth crashedoutsidePittsburgh, Pa.“Freedom itself was attacked this morning, and I assure you freedom will bedefended,”saidPresidentBush,whowasinFloridaatthetimeofthecatastrophe.As a security measure, he was shuttled to a Strategic Air Command bunker inNebraskabeforereturning toWashington on Tuesday afternoon.Establishing theU.S.death toll could takeweeks.Thefour airliners alonehad266peopleaboard,and therewerenoknown survivors. AtthePentagon,about 800peoplewerebelieved dead on Tuesday night.In addition,a firefighters’ union official said he feared an estimated 200 fire-fighters had died in rescue efforts at the trade center — where 50,000 peopleworked —and dozens ofpoliceofficers werebelievedmissing.Thechaos started atabout8:45a.m. whenahijacked airlinercrashed intothenorth tower oftheWorld TradeCenter, the25-year-old skyscraper in downtownManhattan.“I justheard thebuilding rock,” said Peter Dicerbo, abank employeeon the47thfloorofthebuilding.“Itknockedmeonthefloor.Itsoundedlikeabigroar,then thebuilding started swaying.That’s whatreally scared me.”The enormity of the disaster was just sinking in when, 18 minutes later, thesouth tower ofthecenter alsowas hitby aplane.“All this stuff started falling and all this smoke was coming through.Peoplewerescreaming,fallingandjumpingoutofthewindows,”saidJenniferBrickhouse,34, fromUnion,N.J.Workers stumbled down scores of flights, their clothing torn and their lungsfilled with smokeand dust.At the World Trade Center, the dead and the doomed plummeted from theskyscrapers,among themaman and woman holding hands. JohnAxisasaidheranoutsideandwatchedpeoplejumpoutofthefirstbuild-ing; then there was a second explosion, and he felt the heat on the back of hisneck.DonaldBurns,34,wasbeingevacuatedfromthe82ndfloorwhenhesawfourpeopleinthestairwell.“Itriedtohelpthembuttheydidn’twantanyonetotouchthem. Thefirehad melted their skin. Their clothes weretattered,” hesaid.Buttheworstwas yettocome.At about 9:30 a.m., an airliner hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. — thefive-sided headquarters of the American military. “There was screaming andpandemonium,” said Terry Yonkers, an Air Force civilian employee at work

The tightly wound nylon nets once hungsilently from the orange rims of the SmithCenter, undisturbed save for the chaos of game action and the playful tugs of athleteseager to testtheir verticalleaps.Those nets, however, no longer resideinsidethestoriedhomeoftheNorthCarolina basketball team.Those nets have become the permanentpossessions of Jackie Manuel and MelvinScott,twoofthethreeseniorswhocarriedtheTar Heels from historic depths to a regular-season ACC title with an epic 75-73 victory againstDukeonSunday.The third member of the trio, the soft-spokenbutunquestioned leaderof theNorthCarolina squad, had the option of claiming

Afterwin,fansstormFranklinSt.

BY TED STRONG

ASSISTANTCITYEDITOR

Theflamesleapedabovetheir heads, illu-minatingtheringingcrowd—thecrowdthatchanted insultsand hurledobscenitiesaboutthefreshlydefeated enemy.Inaringaroundthefire,youngmen,many stripped to thewaist, did adevilishjig.Theirdancewasfueledbytheprimal,per-cussive beat of a simple drum. From timetotime, to the roaring approval of the crowd,onebrokefromthedanceandhurledhimself throughtheflames. A bloody ritual in the wilderness? Of course not. ThiswasthecelebratorysceneonFranklinStreetonSundaynight.Less than thirty seconds after J.J.Redick and Daniel Ewing missed consecutive des-peration shots to seal the UNC men’s bas-

n the office of The Daily Tar Heel, newspapers areeverywhere.Stacked in hastily arranged piles, mounted on the walls or stowed away in tiny rolls of microfilm in the back of a cluttered storage room, they represent an ever-pres-ent record that compensates for the newspaper’s necessarily deficient institutional memory.

Independencedeﬁned 1990s

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INDEPENDENCE,

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1893

UNC newspaper The TarHeel begins publication

The Tar Heel began as a pub-lication of the UNC AthleticAssociation. The paper was aweekly publication, often com-ing out on Thursdays. Theseearly issues rarely used illus-trations, and pictures did notappear on the pages of The TarHeel until 1901. In its first year,the paper sold 231 subscrip-tions for about $1.50 a year. Thepaper’s first offices were in anattic of a house on RosemaryStreet near Old MethodistChurch.

1944

War puts strain on campus,alters Tar Heel schedules

World War II took a toll on theDTH, limiting manpower andresources. The paper’s distributionwas significantly limited duringwartime, as a large portion of thestudent body was participatingin the war effort. The word ‘daily’was removed from the flag andthe tagline ‘Serving Civilian andMilitary Students at UNC‘ wasseen atop the paper. The impactof war didn’t end with WWII. In1952, editor-in-chief Barry Farberresigned his post when he wasdrafted into the armed forces.

1960s

Social movements takeroot, speaker ban protested

During the 1960s, North Carolinastate law forbade speakers with anycommunist ties from speaking on acollege campus. In 1963, studentslaunched a five-year movement tooverturn this unpopular speakerban so students could choose whoto invite to campus. Former DTHeditor and attorney McNeill Smithled students to victory in a lawsuitbetween Student Body PresidentPaul Dickson and Chancellor J.Carlyle Sitterson; the ban was offi-cially overturned in 1968. Smithtook the case pro bono.

1993

The Daily Tar Heelcentennial

After 100 years of publica-tion, The Daily Tar Heelbecame financially inde-pendent from the Universityin 1993. It was also the firstyear the editor-in-chief wasnot elected by the studentbody. Before this time,those interested in runningfor editor-in-chief wouldcampaign to be elected. The selection process nowinvolves a special selectionboard charged with choos-ing the next year’s editor.

This flaw is lovingly referenced ona quote taped up on a wall in the off-campus office:

“But the eternal youth of The Tar Heel nevertheless is considered ablessing because it is youth that keepsit, like a typical adolescent, defiant inthe face of authority, eager for growthand protective of its freedom.”

Those words were written in 1993,the newspaper’s centennial and the year it achieved full financial inde-pendence from the University. In the years following, the paper sought tofulfill this spirit — through a new way of choosing its leaders and two law-suits filed against UNC, among otherthings.But the formal breakaway did notcome without apprehension. Steady financial support from UNC offeredthe assurance that the DTH wouldexist as long as UNC did.“To go independent was to raise thepossibility that we could fall on hardtimes and suffer,” said Jean Lutes, the1988-89 editor of the paper.“But it seemed entirely worth therisk.”

Giving back student fees

In the summer of 1991, the DTH was down to its last dollar.Two years earlier, the newspaperhad begun to wean itself off revenuefrom student fees, intending to incre-mentally reach financial indepen-dence by 1993. But that meant replac-ing roughly $100,000 of a $600,000annual budget in four years.This made things precarious, saidKevin Schwartz, the DTH’s general

When Chris Carini boughtLinda’s Bar and Grill on FranklinStreet in 2011, one of the firstthings he learned was the bar’shistory with The Daily Tar Heel.“Someone mentioned thatThe Daily Tar Heel is a loyalgroup so I just tried to foster thatrelationship,” Carini said.For more than 20 years, DTHeditors and staffers have madethe pilgrimage to Linda’s onThursday nights after putting thepaper to bed, or sending it to theprinter — in search of a place torelax and wolf down cheese fries.Lisa Reichle, the DTH’s business manager who first joinedthe paper as a writer in 1988, said writers and editors have beenfrequenting Linda’s since about1988.Carini said he wanted to honorthose many years of loyalty whenhe took over the bar by makingsure Linda’s was still a go-to spotfor editors and reporters.“It’s loud enough to have funand quiet enough to talk,” Carinisaid.But Reichle said it’s always been the food that drew reportersout on late nights.“Linda’s is kind of a dive bar, butit has really good cheese fries,” shesaid. “And that’s all you really needafter you put the paper to bed.” When Carini bought the bar,Reichle said many of the paper’salumni worried the bar wouldchange. But she said they hadnothing to worry about.“As long as the cheese fries wereintact and Yuengling was on tap,people were happy,” Reichle said.In 2010, The Daily Tar Heelmoved out of its office in theStudent Union to its currentlocation at 151 E. Rosemary Street— and the new office’s proximity to Linda’s helped ease concernsabout its distance from campus.“Linda’s being closer was a hugeselling point for when we weremoving off campus,” Reichle said.In honor of The Daily TarHeel’s 120th anniversary, thepaper will host its birthday party at Linda’s on Saturday.“I was at the 100th, which wehad at The Carolina Inn,” Reichlesaid. “I’m honestly more excitedthat we’re having it at Linda’s. Itfeels more appropriate.”Kim Minugh, the 2002-03DTH editor-in-chief, said headingto Linda’s after putting the paperto bed felt like being in a sitcom.“It was pretty much like ourCheers,” she said. “We went thereoften, the bartenders knew ournames, we knew theirs.”For Nicole Norfleet, 2008-09online editor, Linda’s was a crucialpart of the DTH experience.“The Daily Tar Heel was like a family,” Norfleet said. “And Linda’s was kind of just our living room.”

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.

dth/katie sweeney

Papers come o the presses to be bundled or delivery. The Daily Tar Heel is printed at Triangle Web Printing in Durham and delivered to Chapel Hill and the surrounding areas. The uncut newspaper goes through the yellow ink plate. This isone o our color plates in the printing process.

INDEPENDENCE

rom oPPosite side

dth/Chris Conwaydth/Chris Conwaydth/jason woloniCkdth/Chris Conway

Managing Editor Elise Young, let, and Editor-in-Chie Andy Thomason edit the ront page or Thursday’s paper. The paper makes it to the last distribution boxes by about 7 a.m. each morn-ing. The DTH’s 17,000 copies are delivered by The Printery in Chapel Hill.A pressman loads a plate or the ront page into the printer. Each color page has our metal plates that print the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

THE DAILY TAR HEEL CELEBRATES 2 mILESTonES - fEB. 23, 2013

pRoDuCIng THE pAgES

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how The Daily Tar Heel goes from thenewsroom to the distribution boxes.

So frustrating, in fact, that it gaveSchwartz the motivation to put the wheels in motion on his plan forindependence, which had been thesubject of his thesis as a graduate stu-dent in UNC’s School of Journalismand Mass Communication.In 1989, the DTH incorporatedas a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It passed a campuswide referendum in 1990 todefund itself of student fee revenue.“So that was my five-year plan,” saidSchwartz, who was later inducted intoUNC’s Order of the Golden Fleece formaking student fee revenue availableto a broader base of student groups.

Independence, realized

Formal independence allowedthe paper’s leaders throughout the1990s to realize a streak of defiancethat dates back to the newspaper’sfoundation.Historian Ken Zogry is workingon a book about the DTH’s history.He said he’s found traces of a defiantmindset even when the newspaper was tied to the Athletic Association.“Very early on, the editors werecritical of how the football program was being run,” he said. “That, tome, was stunning information.”Zogry added that 1993 marked theconclusion of a roughly 25-year arc in which independence was foreshad-owed. But the formal breakaway setoff a series of concrete changes, notthe least of which was a new way of choosing the paper’s editors.Until 1993, the editor-in-chief was elected by campuswide vote, just like the student body president.The process brought out the worst inthe staff, recalled Schwartz. The edi-tor was elected on February’s elec-tion day, then required to take thehelm of the paper the next week.The staff divided itself up intodifferent camps, and those allied with the runners-up would some-times quit en masse, taking editors’Rolodexes with them, for example.The paper switched to selection —conducted by a special board — that would select the editor in the springand install him or her in the fall.But the chief ability the DTHgained, which has been the basis of some of its defining moments in thepast 20 years, was the ability to suethe University. The newspaper hasexercised the ability twice: in 1996,to challenge the Honor Court’s useof the N.C. Open Meetings Law, andin 2010, to challenge the ability of the University to protect footballplayers’ records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.Thanassis Cambanis, who led thecharge on the first lawsuit as the 1995-96 editor, said the effort grew out of a skepticism of the University that heobserved in the leadership of the early 1990s and sought to emulate.“I viewed all the journalism wedid in the ’90s as an extension of that era of aggressive challenging of the University,” he said in a Skypeinterview from Beirut.“I didn’t think of that case as a direct outgrowth of our indepen-dence but, of course, it was.”That connection is hard to judge,said Erica Perel, editor in 1997-98and the DTH’s newsroom adviser.“A lot of people like to call (the1990s) kind of a golden age of theDTH,” she said.“You have to kind of think, well,maybe it was our independence thathelped maybe fuel that golden age …It definitely didn’t hurt.” And that spirit carried on afterCambanis, in his own career and atthe DTH. Now a journalist coveringthe Middle East, Cambanis said hisdealings with the University pre-pared him for his professional work.“When I was dealing with horrify-ing liars in Baghdad who were rep-resenting the U.S. government eitherin uniform or as diplomats, it was very much like trying to deal withpeople in South Building … who wereentitled and contemptuous of thepeople’s right to know,” he said.Rob Nelson, editor in 1999-2000,said he idolized Cambanis and the values associated with him, thoughhe didn’t know him.“By the time we got to the changeof the millennium, the indepen-dence of the newspaper was sofirmly entrenched in how we oper-ated and how we thought and how we perceived ourselves that it was a given,” Nelson said.The feeling continued into thenext decade, which included the2010 lawsuit — handled by the sameteam of lawyers hired for the 1996case — that was resolved last year. And the iconic quote still hangs inthe three-year-old off-campus office.“I’m the editor who said put thatquote on the wall,” said Nelson, now co-anchor for ABC’s World NewsNow and America This Morning.“I love that it’s still there all these years later. It should never, evercome down.”

manager at that time and now.“It got so tough that in August of 1991 … I had to actually go take a loan out at Central Carolina Bank,10 grand, to make payroll,” he said.“It doesn’t get any tougher thanthat.”It wasn’t the only rough patchthe newspaper would face in thefour-year transition. But, for thoseinvested in the paper, it was bet-ter than the alternative: StudentCongress, which the DTH covered,had the responsibility of approvingthe newspaper’s budget.“Student Congress got to basi-cally hold us hostage for all year’scoverage, you know,” Schwartz said,adding that a “no” vote after theannual presentation froze all thenewspaper’s funds — not just stu-dent fee revenue.The budget approval processtook a toll on editors.“We asked (editors), ‘Did you feellike you pulled punches around bud-get time?’ Everybody said, ‘Oh yeah, we totally did that,’” Schwartz said.Lutes recalled that the obligationseemed entirely contrary to the idea of a free, independent publication.“It was just ridiculous,” she said.“We were frequently critical of Student Congress, and to then feel we were beholden to them was very frustrating.”

Go to dailytarheel.com to view a video of the making of the paper.

But he said he would never take out a payday loan to pay a bill — and would optinstead to put the bill on a credit card or borrow money from family or friends.“I think they should be avoided,” hesaid. “It’s a very devious way to keep thepoor poor.” Al Ripley, director of the consumer and

To the frustration of Charlotte civic leadersand other city residents, former Charlotte mayorand current Gov. Pat McCrory isn’t giving hishometown any special treatment.North Carolina’s largest city, Charlotte, and itscapital, Raleigh, are ensnared in a dispute involvingmoney for two transportation projects in Charlotte.The Charlotte City Council has asked the stategovernment to fund 25 percent of an extension of the city’s Blue Line light rail.The extension would run from UNC-Charlotte’smain campus to its new uptown campus.“It’s really beneficial because we have a lotof people who commute, and we already have a parking problem on campus,” said UNC-C sopho-more Amanda Wilson.The light rail extension will be funded using50 percent federal grant money, 25 percent statemoney and 25 percent city money.But the city is also considering building a streetcar that would link eastern Charlotte to thecity’s west side.Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, said legislators were caught off guard by the streetcar proposal.“We were getting mixed signals from themayor about what priorities were,” he said.Torbett said the state has to maximize benefitsfor all N.C. residents — using limited funds.“The state is wondering, ‘If the city doesindeed raise the money for the streetcar exten-sion, then why are you asking us for $180 millionfor the Blue Line extension?’” said Charlotte city council member Andy Dulin.

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People couldsimultaneously takeout multipleloans from thesame lender.

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An employed adult who earns a salary and has a checking account needs extra money to pay for livingexpenses, bills or sudden nancial decits. The options are:

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The person goes to alender and writes a check forthe amount of the loan plusinterest, which can be nogreater that 15 percent per$100 borrowed.The check ispostdated — usually untilpayday — and the personreceives the neededmoney on the spot.The lender is now within their right to deposit the check.

Proposed changes in state payday lending process

Get a smallerloan, such as apayday loan.Payday loans areeasy to get and withfew qualications.

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After covering livingexpenses, the person still cannotpay the full amount of the loan, sothe check bounces and the lendercharges him or her an additionalreturned check fee.

Proposedchanges

If the person canpay o the loan,then it is closed.If the person couldn’t aordto pay o the loan, he or she could”roll over” the loan until the nextpaycheck by paying an additionalfee. The fees would continue,often for months, until theloan was paid o.

There was no extendedpayment plan option.

Formerlegislation

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The person cannotborrow additional moneyfrom the same lenderuntil 24 hours after theorginal loan is paid o.

SOURCE: AL RIPLEY, N.C.JUSTICE CENTER, N.C. SENATE BILL 89

By Sarah Brown

Staff Writer

Members of the N.C. General Assembly are proposing to revive a controversiallending practice that has virtually laindormant for more than a decade. Advocates of the practice — known aspayday lending — say the ability to obtainquick loans, with new consumer protec-tions, would aid low-income residentsduring a slow economic recovery.But opponents of the measure counterthat the loans could trap residents in a cycle of debt — the same reason the prac-tice was previously banned.Payday lending allows people with a joband checking account to pay immediateexpenses by taking out small, short-termloans before their next paycheck. The leg-islature banned it in 2001.“The demand (for the loans) has nevergone away in North Carolina,” said JamieFulmer, regional spokesman for Advance America, a national payday lending firm.Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, intro-duced Senate Bill 89 last week, which would enable residents to borrow up to$500 and cap the interest rate at 15 per-cent on every $100 borrowed.North Carolina is one of 12 states thatprohibits the practice.Fulmer said the bill would provide a simple, transparent and cost-efficientcredit option for N.C. residents.“(People) get to a point in time wherethey have more month left than money,”he said. “They’ll be able to use this loan to bridge that gap.”Before the practice was banned, some borrowers had taken out new loans to pay off old ones and paid high interest feeson all of them, said Pat McCoy, execu-tive director of Action N.C., a community advocacy group that opposes the bill.But specific consumer protections, suchas preventing people from continuously rolling over loans to postpone repayment,are important aspects of the new bill,Fulmer said. In 1999, about $80 million inrenewal fees was charged by lenders.“This option will be safe and regulated while meeting customers’ needs,” he said. After graduation, students could takeout payday loans to help pay off collegedebts, Fulmer said. But he said payday lending might not be the best option todeal with student loans.UNC sophomore KJ Moon, a biology and economics major, said he understands why people would turn to payday loans fora quick financial fix.

Lslats cns vsna 2001 an n payay lnn.

Climbing wall toreopen nearly a year after accident

By Elizabeth Kemp

Staff Writer

Almost a year after a UNC stu-dent fell and severely injured herlegs and lower body, the indoorclimbing walls at Rams HeadRecreation Center and Fetzer Hall will reopen after spring break.Christopher Payne, the associ-ate vice chancellor for studentaffairs, said that the facilities willreopen after recommendationsfrom the UNC’s department of environment, health and safety have been implemented.On April 21, Lizzie Smith,then a UNC student and CampusRecreation employee, fell off theRams Head climbing wall. She was taken to the hospital after a security guard found her, and the walls were closed indefinitely.The department completed anevaluation of the walls’ safety last year, and recommended an inde-pendent review, which concludedon Jan. 28.The review consisted of a detailed inspection of the walls,safety equipment and the pro-gram’s staff training practices.The department also suggestedenhancing employee training,including a review of proceduresfor staff roles and responsibilities when working at the climbing walls.Other recommendationsincluded a formal assessment of the safety of employment at the walls, and a review of climbing wall sign-in procedures as well asrecord-keeping practices.

Carrboro aldermen hope tomake housing a≠ordable

By Jenny Drabble

Staff Writer

With more than 50 percent of Carrboro residents burdened by theirrent or mortgage, the Carrboro Boardof Aldermen is taking action to makehousing more affordable.“In part we are a victim of ourown success,” said Alderman Sammy Slade. “Carrboro is a nice place tolive, so a lot of people want to livehere, which makes property moreexpensive.”On Tuesday, the board heard rec-ommendations for preserving afford-able housing in the town. The report’smain goals are increasing the supply and quality of affordable housingunits in Carrboro and helping peoplestay in their current homes.The report, created by the townplanning board and Transportation Advisory Board, consists of 12 recom-mendations — including establishinga public-private housing trust fundand making the Affordable HousingTask Force a permanent committee.The North Carolina HousingCoalition and the UNC Departmentof City and Regional Planning pro- vided research and data to the boardand helped facilitate community dia-logues in October. According to the report, 55 percentof homeowners and 53 percent of renters in Carrboro spend more than30 percent of their wages on housing.Slade said one goal of the planning board is to ensure Carrboro residents’rent or mortgage doesn’t exceedthat percentage of their household’sincome.The mean renter wage in OrangeCounty is $9.67 per hour, meaning anaverage person would have to work 62 hours a week to afford a two-bed-room apartment at fair market rent. At minimum wage, or $7.25, a per-son would have to work two jobs toafford this rent. And at $779, fair market rent is

The Board of Aldermen discuss taking over theCollins Crossing complex in order topreserve affordable housing.

much higher in Orange County thanin other parts of the state.Slade attributes these rates to theattractiveness of Orange County asa place to live, which has increased

ChArLoTTe TrANSiT diSPuTe

Charlotte officials and N.C. lawmakers are engagedin a dispute about the city’s Blue Line light rail:The state will provide part of the money for alight rail linking UNC-Charlotte’s campuses.Council members have also proposed usingproperty taxes to pay for a new streetcar system.Lawmakers are questioning why the city needsstate money for one proposal and not the other.